A Shadow in the Flames (The New Aeneid Cycle)

by Michael G. Munz

  "Also," Felix went on, "some things seem to point to a corporate connection: the expensive flash job, the suspicious connections to RavenTech and such. I can see why a warehouse would be hit. No doubt there'd be some equipment loss. But why the apartment? I mean, we won't know until we've time to check those names, but if you're the only connection, Diomedes. . . I don't know. It just doesn't add up."

  A moment of silence passed. Romulus moved to the second report.

  "I don't suppose you'd tell us a little more about the nature of that connection?" Felix probed. Romulus looked up from the reports with interest.

  "No."

  Felix held up his hands in apology. "Just asking."

  "Stop asking."

  Romulus noticed the reporter was no longer saying much. He looked back down at the reports, still listening to the conversation but watching for what he hoped he had remembered correctly.

  Felix just kept going. "The thing is, it would make more sense if he's corporate. The arsons would be his day job and this vagrant-rescuing, ganger-killing thing could just be a helpful hobby. You have to admit the two don't exactly mesh."

  Romulus heard the reporter laugh. "Unless he thinks burning down buildings is helpful."

  "True," said Felix, apparently taking the idea seriously. "But still. I mean, if he's a psycho as we're assuming—it's a good bet but there's no guarantee—he could be following any number of irrational behaviors. I just can't help but think that someone who would go through such trouble to install a non-lethal stun flash like that would be prone to torching an apartment where a great number of people could be hurt."

  "A stunned enemy is easier to kill," Diomedes told him.

  "Then why didn't he kill you?" Felix asked.

  "Disappointed?"

  "It just raises some worrisome questions is all."

  "Talk won't get us anywhere," said Diomedes.

  It was then that Romulus saw it. "Hey," he said quietly to himself in recognition. "Hey!" he said again and looked up from the screen. "I think I've got something!"

  "What is it?" Felix asked.

  Romulus handed the paused report to Diomedes. "When you said black—you don't look good in black—I thought, I remembered, I mean. Last night after he escaped I saw a black floater flying over. It was just after I woke up. There's the same one in the background." He pointed to the pocket screen. "Same color, same style. Or model."

  "Let me see that," Felix said. Romulus watched as Diomedes peered at the screen a moment before handing it to Felix. "That's a Boeing Ursa Minor. Black, unmarked. Not too commonplace."

  "Could it be a coincidence?" asked Brian.

  "Yes," said Felix. "But it's worth checking out."

  "How?" Diomedes asked.

  "There're no plates visible. Wandering through the city trying to find that thing would be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

  Felix grinned. "Someone I know once said that the likelihood of anyone ever actually dropping a needle in a haystack, much less trying to find one, is incredibly small. On the other hand, I think I know someone else who can make it a little easier."

  XVII

  It had taken all of forty-five seconds for Felix to get from the building entry to Marc's door. "Diomedes, Flynn," Felix said, pointing to the two men who entered the apartment behind him, "this is Lifesaver."

  Diomedes and Flynn, Marc thought, matching the names with the faces he'd seen last night. His memory jogged, he remembered a few of their details now. Marc smiled and extended his hand. Flynn took it. Diomedes did not.

  "Lifesaver?" asked the younger man. Marc wasn't sure if the tone was confirming or confused.

  "Actually," Marc replied with a friendly scowl at Felix, "My real name's Marc. People just call me Lifesaver 'cause that's what Felix here keeps introducing me as."

  "Well it fits, doesn't it?" Felix grinned.

  Marc noticed the larger man was paying little attention to the discussion, looking instead around his living room. Flynn, however, still maintained an interest. Marc pulled out his omnipresent pack of peppermint Lifesavers. "Lifesaver?" he offered. Flynn chuckled but declined after a glance to Diomedes who all but turned his nose up at the offer.

  Felix took one, as always, and chuckled. "He always does that."

  "No, I always carry them," Marc said. "Most of the time I usually offer them when you introduce me to someone so they don't think I'm some sort of medic."

  "Though he does know the right maneuver in case you get one of those suckers stuck in your throat, speaking from experience," Felix added to the freelancers.

  "This isn't why we're here," Diomedes told Felix.

  "Ah, yes. Always keeping us on track, Diomedes is. I'm afraid I do have a bit of a favor to ask. I hope you're not too busy with. . . other things?"

  "Tonight, no. Last night, yes. In fact I was up so late that I just woke up another hour ago, so you've got me fresh." Marc ushered them inside. "What is it you want, exactly?"

  "What was last night?" Felix asked as they moved to have a seat.

  "Oh, you know, work and such."

  Fruitless work as it happened. He'd kept his search going into early morning, growing more certain with every passing hour that he wouldn't find his target, yet still hanging onto the hope of chance. He had finally gone to bed as the sun rose. After he woke, he heard that the illusive man from ESA had been spotted boarding a plane out of the country. Whatever business he'd come to do, he'd most likely done already. Surely efforts were already underway to learn just what that was. Marc wondered what the chance might be that Felix would have seen or heard anything useful.

  They moved into the main room. "Pardon the mess." Marc took a seat at the computer by one of the windows and turned the chair to the rest of them. Flynn found a clear spot on one end of the sofa as Diomedes continued to stand and looked out the window at the street four stories below. Felix moved to the other end of the sofa and picked up some hardcopies that were lying on the cushion.

  "Ah, mind if I put these somewhere?" Felix asked.

  Marc cursed inwardly, recognizing the AoA papers even before he saw the Palladium. As there were other, more open places to sit, he guessed Felix had seen it too.

  Marc sprang up. "Yeah, I'll put those somewhere." He tugged open a desk drawer and shoved them in, closing it after. He really needed to wake up. "Normally I'd just say toss 'em on the table, but that's a bit cluttered, too," he said, attempting to cover. He motioned to the electronic hardware and mess of cables that were scattered on a coffee table that he long ago turned into a workbench.

  "Is that Holes?" Felix asked.

  "Yeah, or will be, I hope."

  Felix turned to Flynn. "Lifesaver's trying to make an A.I."

  "Artificial intelligence?"

  "Yeah." Marc nodded. "And I'm not trying to make one, I am making one. It takes time to nurture the emergent programming so it turns out stable." He barely stopped himself from going into details that the others probably wouldn't appreciate. "I haven't had time. The name was Felix's idea, of course."

  Diomedes slammed his palm against the wall beside the window. "Hiatt!"

  "Ah, yes!" Felix exclaimed. "There he goes again! We need your help to find someone."

  "Find someone?" Great. Another search. He might have been less irritated if the freelancer hadn't just made a sizeable dent in his wall.

  "Or something, actually. To be brief—"

  "You, be brief?"

  "—there's a floater out there owned by a guy we're trying to track down."

  "Got plates?"

  "No, but it's a black Boeing Ursa Minor. Not too common. I'm hoping you could use something out of that bag of tricks. Provided it still works?"

  Marc nodded. "Yeah, it still works."

  Diomedes turned his attention on Marc. "What is it?" Marc wished the guy would sit down. He glanced up at the larger freelancer, thinking.

  "Felix, can I talk to you for a second in the other room?" Marc asked.

  Felix
stood. "Sure."

  Marc motioned to a door that led to a second bedroom that he used as another office and storage room. "Excuse us just a moment, sorry."

  "We're not leaving," said Diomedes.

  The door closed and Marc turned to his friend. After a moment of hesitation, he forced himself to courage and said, "Felix, don't take this the wrong way, but I wish you wouldn't do this to me."

  "Diomedes and Flynn, you mean? Sorry for that, but I couldn't come alone. I'm Dio's guide to finding this guy and I don't think he's willing to let me out of his sight for the moment."

  "I just don't want every punk who's looking for someone to come knocking on my door. I don't mind helping you out, but too much attention causes problems. Right now the AoA doesn't have to pull strings to keep my little tap-in hidden, and we want to keep it that way."

  Felix held up his hands. "You know I know that."

  "So why'd you bring them?"

  "Maybe it was a bit imprudent of me, and for that I'm sorry. But I know Diomedes. He won't tell anyone. He's not one to share his resources, and if this works, that's how he'll think of you."

  "And if I can't find this guy?" Marc asked.

  "Then he won't think you worth the breath it takes to mention your name."

  Marc thought for a minute. He did trust Felix, but the man wasn't infallible. Maybe if he could do the search without the freelancers knowing how. "And Flynn?"

  "I think he's trustworthy. If I tell him to be discreet about this, he will."

  Marc sighed. "You sound pretty sure about that."

  "Call it a feeling."

  Marc turned to the window and looked out over the dying city as the sun set. "You're not the only one who's got a feeling about him."

  "What do you mean? Recruiting's got their eye on him?"

  "Technically I'm not supposed to tell you those sorts of things anymore, but someone's got their eye on him, yeah." Recruiting wasn't Marc's area, but he did know that Flynn was targeted from his Aegis Security training psych profile as a possible candidate. Marc also knew that he was not to be approached while he still associated with Diomedes. Apparently they thought he still had some growing to do, or perhaps they considered Diomedes a risk. He didn't know the details, but it was something minor he was to look out for. And he really shouldn't tell Felix about it. Not yet, anyway.

  A moment passed before he moved on. "As for the problem at hand, I suppose we could work around it."

  Romulus sat staring at the jumble of circuit boards and fractal processors on the table in front of him as Diomedes moved towards the door behind which Felix and Lifesaver had closed themselves. "Well, he seems nice enough," Romulus said. His mentor made eye contact with him but gave no reply. "Though the Lifesaver thing is a bit kooky. And the thing on his eyes was a bit weird."

  Romulus had seen a prosthesis twice before like the one Lifesaver wore: a single, stylish visor bubble around both eye sockets, like a pair of sunglasses without the frames. From what he knew it was some sort of hybrid of optics implant and computer readout, and given the amount of hardware lying about here, Lifesaver probably had use for such a thing.

  Diomedes's only comment was a quick "Shh!" Romulus felt stupid for not noticing that he was trying to listen in. Being taught by his uncle to respect people's privacy had likely kept Romulus himself from thinking of it, but Diomedes was doing it to watch their backs. He wondered briefly what his uncle might say about that before he whispered to his mentor, "Hear anything?"

  "Not clearly. Shh."

  Romulus nodded and went back to thinking. He wanted to trust Lifesaver. Was that a weakness? He hoped they would be able to capitalize on his discovery about the floater—he had to admit, he was proud of it—and Felix seemed to think Marc could help find it. He didn't want the information to wind up being a waste of time. Diomedes hated wasting time. Brian had been sent to check on some names for Felix, and they were here. Romulus got the feeling that his mentor was putting more stock in their part of the search.

  The closed door opened a moment later and Felix stepped out, followed by Lifesaver.

  "Well?" Diomedes asked.

  "I'll help," Lifesaver told him, "and as a favor to Felix there's no charge but to ask that you let me keep my methods a secret. I'll be in the other room looking. If I find anything, Felix'll confirm it." Romulus smiled, glad to know they'd get to follow the lead.

  "I want to know how," Diomedes said. Romulus remained quiet, though curious himself. "Hiatt knows, I know."

  Lifesaver blinked and opened his mouth to reply but it was Felix who spoke first. "Those are his terms, Diomedes. Take it or leave it."

  His mentor flashed an angry look at Felix and Romulus found himself inwardly groaning. They had what was important and the offer seemed fair. As Diomedes and Felix stared in defiance of each other, Lifesaver stepped over to the computer desk in the corner and sat down. "That's the only way I feel comfortable."

  Romulus felt the opportunity slipping. "Diomedes," he began in an effort to persuade. His mentor turned his glare onto Romulus. It burned away the rest of what he had meant to say.

  Then without a word Diomedes turned and moved across the room to where Lifesaver sat. "Find it. We stay until you do."

  Lifesaver got up once more. "I'll give a shout when I find something," he said from the doorway. "Feel free to find some food in the kitchen. There's some leftover pizza in the fridge." With that he closed the door.

  Silence seeped into the room. Diomedes moved to resume staring out the window. When he could stand the tension no longer, Romulus asked, "So what's Lifesaver do exactly?"

  "Like I said, he's a programmer. Silker, Net-head, hacker, geek. You name it—if it's computers, he's on it."

  "Yes, but what does he do?" Romulus pressed. "Who does he work for?"

  Felix let out a laugh. "Flynn, you don't even know who you're working for! You're worried about somebody else's job, now?"

  Romulus didn't quite know what to say to that. "We work for ourselves," Diomedes answered for him.

  "You don't know, either, do you?" Romulus baited. "Know who Lifesaver works for, I mean."

  "Oh, I know. And believe me, I would love to tell you, but that happens to be a thing I promised I wouldn't. I will tell you one thing, though, Flynn."

  "What's that?"

  Felix walked over to him and leaned in. "It's a damned lousy secret to have to keep."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean the secret itself isn't lousy, but keeping it a secret is damned frustrating for someone like me. On the other hand," Felix grinned impishly, "it's also a hell of a lot of fun being mysterious!"

  Romulus scowled as possibilities filled his mind. A government group? Maybe a secret division of some Internet think-tank? Romulus had to admit that, being from a farm, he didn't even have a clue. "Do I get a hint?"

  Felix shook his head and walked into the kitchen. "Nope. I already told you I made a promise. I made one to you, too. I can't be giving you the impression that I don't keep them now, can I?"

  Romulus stood and looked into the kitchen to find Felix digging through Lifesaver's refrigerator. Felix pulled out a sealed plastic container and shook it. "You could always try just asking him if you really want to know. I think you'll eventually find out." Felix opened the container, sniffed it, and then quickly sealed it and tossed it aside. "One thing not to do."

  "What?"

  "Never sniff in the back of a man's fridge. I didn't know meat could get that color."

  XVIII

  "Your attention, if you please," she announced. The thirty-six men and women of the Saratoga mining team assembled in the outfitting bay turned towards Marette for an explanation. They had been sent to the Aristarchus site. They had found what they were unaware they should be looking for. They were deceived, uninformed, and a calculated risk. And now they were about to be offered a bribe. It was a thing Marette prayed they would be wise enough to take, for both their sakes and her own.

  "I am neithe
r a diplomat nor a public speaker," she began, "so I will apologize beforehand for my lack of eloquence. Important events have occurred at this mining site, some of which you are aware, some you are not."

  A swell of grief boiled up inside and threatened to choke her. Marette paused to force back the all-too-recent horror and sorrow of events she had tried to put out of her mind before coming to the assembly. She must remain collected.

  "I am not here to offer you an explanation," she continued. "What I can say is that the European Space Agency, which grants Saratoga the ability to mine this plot of the Moon, is engaging its legal option to shut down the mining to explore the area further. More ESA representatives will be arriving at fourteen hundred hours, at which time, after certain security measures are taken, you will be relocated to another site to resume the work for which you were trained.

  "The events of the past few days are not widely known beyond this site. You may already know that a transport and communications lockdown has been in effect here for some time. This silence has been necessary for scientific purposes. On behalf of ESA, I apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused. To compensate you for this, and to further request your cooperation in our necessary silence, ESA has credited your personal accounts with a sum based on the original mineral yield estimate of the site. Your foreman, Mr. Andora, has details on specific amounts."

  Marette paused to let this sink in, reasonably certain that the money would pacify the group at least a petite amount. In the momentary silence, the memory of the screams tugged at her. She took a deep breath and tried to shut away her emotions. She vowed to stay passionless outside.

  "In addition, in exchange for your further silence about the situation until such time as ESA is prepared to make public comment on the matter, you have been promised five times as much once ESA reaches the point of full disclosure. Do not speak of this to anyone off-site. Not friends, not family, not anyone. Violation of this will result in forfeiture of future compensation and suspension of lunar certification for the entire group. In addition, the Saratoga Mining Company would be denied future permits to mine lunar sites, and would be well within their rights to bring legal action against those of you responsible. That is all. Direct any questions to Foreman Andora, who will bring them to my attention. Barring this, I would recommend that you now prepare yourselves to transfer to the new site. That is all."